Prelude of the exam!

Chouji stayed for a while and watched Lee and Sasuke spared for a bit. But, even until Guy stopped Lee, there was nothing that really piqued his interest. It was only when Lee winked his eyes at Sakura and blew her a kiss that Chouji got a good laugh for a moment.

'I guess they're merely so-so...'

Chouji's goofy expression suddenly took a turn and become gloom as he remembered his last mission, '...and so am I.'

He explored the place for a few more minutes to restore his mood then went back into meeting room 301. He sat beside Shikamaru and then took a box of dried mushrooms before he started to gobble them up. It was only moments later that team seven -Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura- came in followed by team eight -Kiba, Hinata, and Shino-.

Like the loud person he was, Naruto began to ridicule Sasuke's loss to Lee regardless of his own loss, followed by Sakura admonishing Naruto then joined by others. The calm environment inside the room was broken and was replaced by a tense atmosphere, both peoples from Konoha and other villages either irritatingly glanced in their direction or silently glared toward them with subtle killing intent.

"Stop screaming like a cheerleader, will you?" A white-haired man wearing a dark purple shirt with a high collar and a white under-shirt coupled with dark purple pants with a white cloth waistband on him was approaching them with a stern gaze. "This is NOT a picnic, you rookies just out of the academy, aren't you?"

Naruto, who was still irritated with Sasuke for some reason, lashed out at that man. He raised his hand and pointed his index finger at that man's face. "Listen here, tough guy. Who the hell do you think you are-dattebayo?"

The white-haired man sighed and fixed his glasses position before snickering at Naruto. "I'm Kabuto, a Konoha-nin just like you. I'm saying this out of my goodwill, just look behind you..."

Naruto and the rest of team seven and eight warily turned their head and shifted their gaze. There, they saw various unfriendly gazes from myriad genins from many places. But, the ones that made them sweat a bit were the gazes from the guys with hidden rain village's genins.

"Those guys behind you are genins from the hidden rain villages, and you know what? They really have a short fuse..." Kabuto shook his head with a helpless expression. "Everyone here is nervous about the exam one way or another, you all should quiet down before you cause a scene."

"Well, I can't blame you all as you're all just clueless rookies. And I too used to be that reckless once." With a shrug of his shoulder, Kabuto helplessly stared at both Team Seven and Team Eight.

The conversation continued with Kabuto showing them a stack of cards filled with information about the exam participants, and Sasuke asked the information about Gaara and Lee.

Meanwhile, team ten was as silent as they could be, at least that was what could be seen from the outside. But, they're currently having their own discussion regarding the ongoing event through the combination of Shikamaru's and Ino's techniques. While at it, they too eavesdropping the conversation of their fellow Konoha rookies with Kabuto.

'Is that real? how can he have that kind of information?' Ino suspiciously glanced at Kabuto from the corner of her eyes.

'I suppose that they're real, I don't know about how he got his hands on them though.' Chouji answered briefly, but he still put most of his attention on Kabuto's explanation.

"-And just like Lee and Gaara, everyone here is the top elite genins of their own villages! This exam isn't going to be easy!" Kabuto ended his explanation with a small smile on his lips.

'That's what I hope...' Chouji grinned silently, Shikamaru lazily glanced at him, while Ino stared at him with a gaze full of determination to give her all.

---

A few days ago,

"Have you healed already, Asuma?" A man with thick eyebrows and a bowl-shaped hairstyle, Might Guy, cheerfully greeted Asuma with his own trademark 'Youthful' grin.

"I'm fine and dandy already, don't worry." Asuma shrugged his shoulder and waved Guy's worry dismissively. "But, can I ask you a favor later, Eyebrows?"

"Ask anything! As long as I can do it, I will try to help you!" Guy shouted excitedly, he raised his thumb up and laughed merrily. "Buhahaha!"

"What are you two talking about? Me? Why are you laughing like that?" A spiky white-haired man with a mask on his face and a slanted Konoha headband on his head was approaching them from behind. He raised his hand and greeted them. "Yo! How do you do, Asuma? Guy?"

"Kakashi! What are you doing here? Are you here to assign your team to the chunin exam?" Might Guy was mildly surprised to see Kakashi there. "Although you're my eternal rival, this is not going to be easy. You're rushing things!"

Kakashi answered with his silence and just glanced at Asuma.

"Don't look at me like that, Kakashi. My team is full of monsters, you know. Although it's true that the Jinchuriki boy and the Uchiha boy are on your team, they are yet to be mature, unlike mine." Asuma shook his head helplessly. "I know you know..."

Both Kakashi and Guy sighed, they were among the few that rushed to be the reinforcement for Asuma and his team in the previous mission. And they're beyond surprised after both hearing their exploit and seeing their mad training attitude during their journey back to Konoha. Yes, they were not training as hard as Might Guy, but he was a wonder of nature, they were way above their peers.

"It was a miracle you're all able to survive and complete the mission under that circumstance." Kakashi said as he took out his precious book.

"It was mostly our luck that do the wonder." Asuma sighed, he scratched his backhead. "How do I say this..."

"That guy's raw power far beyond mine, and we also traped in an ambus. The later was handled well by the kids, but the former... We're lucky that he lost his mind as he got drunk with his rush of power." Asuma's eyes stared at the sky while his stretched palm balled into a fist.

"Another big plus for us was that guy clearly was not a combat shinobi. Perhaps he was one or perhaps he was not, but his move clearly rigid and looks untrained."

Kakashi and Guy went silent when they heard their friend's story. They then proceed to the Hokage office to fulfill his summon and start their meeting regarding the Chunin exam.

---

"He's shaking..."

"He is..."

"Wanna bet why he's shaking so much?"

Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru were looking at Naruto's figure, he was currently shaking on his boots after he heard Kabuto's explanation.

"A thousand Ryo, he's scared senseless!' Ino smirked as she threw her bet, unaware that his two teammates eyes were shining.

"Deal!" "I'm in!"

Both Chouji and Shikamaru immediately agreed on her bet and took a thousand Ryo from their pocket each.

'Did I just shoot my own feet just now?' Ino regretted her decision as soon as she made it.

"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! I WON'T LOSE TO ANY OF YOU, BASTARD!"

Just then, Naruto suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs and surprised everyone in the room.

"HEY! What is he? A moron?!" Ino snapped, she just lost two thousand Ryo just like that! All because of that idiot!

Chouji bumped his fist with Shikamaru as they grinned. 'easy money...'

"Aah... That felt great!" Naruto grinned foolishly, he scratched the back of his head and laughed.

Meanwhile, amongst the participants in the room, Orochimaru smiled creepily while he eyed a few persons of his interest. "Better than I anticipated! Kekekeke~"